Happy Days

For most of kindergarten, Brad Mitchell whisperedJoanie Loves Cha-Chi and pulled his eyes back at me,
while his friends snickered. I was the only Asian girl in school,
and my name was Joan, not Becky or Chelsea
like the prettiest girls in class, the ones that smiled so freely.
My name was American, but not American enough.

That entire year, I thought Joanie Loves Cha-Chi was a racial slur.
My immigrant mother had never seen Happy Days.
Her kimchi and myeolchi-muchim was banished
to a garage refrigerator while our gigantic gallons of milk
and my father’s cheddar cheese and oreos filled the kitchen.
She waved away my tears and told me to just ignore them.
I was not American enough to get the joke.

The next year, I saw Happy Days on t.v. and felt so ashamed.
Brad’s chant buzzed in my hot and throbbing ears.
Hooked right away, I fell in love with the Fonz.
I didn’t know then, but it was because he could say
“heyyyyyyy” in an accent that I couldn’t quite place.

~ Joan Glass

Joan Glass holds a B.A. and M.A. from Smith College. She is the child of a Korean immigrant mother and an Irish/Polish American father. Her poems have been published in TRIVIA: Voices of Feminism, Literary Mama, Decades Review, Up the River, Bone Parade, Easy Street, and Right Hand Pointing, among others. Her poem ‘Bathing Scene’ was featured on the Saturday Poetry Series: Poetry as it Ought to Be. Joan lives near New Haven, Connecticut.

You may also like

“It’s important to bring this devastatingly misogynist and sexist culture into the drawing rooms of society, supplanting the ever permanent discussions of politics and religious discourse, two themes sewn into the lifeblood of Pakistan. How we treat women and how they are perceived in society are sadly closely intertwined with how they see themselves. We must teach young girls the power of ambition, something they have in droves as children – ask any five-year-old girl what she wants to be and I doubt you’ll get “housewife” as an answer. These are protocols we imprint on them as they grow older, reminding them to never dip a toe out “too far”. ” ~ Maryam Piracha, ‘Don't Cry Like A Girl, Be A (Wo)man’

“It is difficult, when you are not part of a community, to see what happens within it. It may also be extremely difficult to come out of a community and reveal truths about how you’ve been mistreated due to your sexual identity. The struggle for social acceptance is a long, hard road, but it is not something that can be accomplished in isolation by the victimized. Rather, the instigators need to pause and rethink why they pour such hate on their fellow human beings. We might think that something is just a phase, and perhaps for a minority it is. For the rest, it is a gift we are cursing them for.” ~ Aaron Grierson, ‘Not Just A Phase’

“When seemingly decent people make jokes linking masculinity, dominance and superiority to the vile act of rape, and express pride over it, they don’t realize that the language they are using not only trivializes the trauma, horror and pain of rape victims and survivors, but also makes them culpable in promoting rape culture. In fact, it is often through the uninformed use of such words that language becomes a tool in perpetuating sexism and violence against women in society.” ~ Sana Fatima Hussain, ‘Talking Gender’

Over the last few months, the magazine has ceased core publishing operations while we reevaluate our direction and vision. We will be back soon–the work TMS does is too important for us to drift silently into the night–but it will take some time.

But while we’re taking a break to restrategize, bookmark this page… we hope to see you on the other side!